The Second Master of the Red Chamber

Jia Lian rode a horse and Aqi drove the car, and they slowly drove along the same route they came, to the hillside.

The sisters who had been waiting for a long time immediately surrounded them.

"I heard that sister Yuhuan fell?"

"How is it, is she okay?"

Facing everyone's concern, Jia Lian said, "I've asked a doctor to take a look. He said it's just a sprained foot. I just need to rest for a few days."

Worried that her sisters would rush to the carriage to see her, after Jia Lian finished speaking, Zhen Yuhuan also lifted the carriage curtain and explained to the girls, "I'm fine, thank you for your concern."

Perhaps seeing Zhen Yuhuan's natural demeanor and rosy complexion, everyone was not so worried anymore. After they found out that Zhen Yuhuan's maid had already boarded the car to take care of her, they decided not to squeeze in.

"Sister Zhen is injured. Will she still participate in the following activities? We have agreed to have a picnic and hold a poetry club afterwards!"

Jia Lian said, "Let her rest in the car. It won't delay the poetry club. It will be the same if we give her a piece of paper and pen and let her write in the car."

As for her lunch, I can only trouble you two sisters to prepare more and send it to her when the time comes."

After hearing this, Xiangyun and Tanchun immediately nodded in agreement.

Xiangyun has confirmed that Zhen Yuhuan is indeed fine. She even laughed and said, "I am very happy to cook for her. Hehe, usually she refuses to eat this or that, and is very hypocritical. I must make some food for her later to see if she will eat it."

As soon as she finished speaking, Zhen Yuhuan's voice came from the carriage: "Then I don't want yours, I just want what my third sister makes for me. Humph, what my third sister makes is much better than what you make."

Everyone laughed. Jia Lian had organized several picnics in the Grand View Garden before, and Xiangyun was always the most active.

Moreover, she was carefree and casual, and dared to try all kinds of wild vegetables, fruits, and meat. However, the food she cooked was not good enough in appearance or taste, and was often disliked by others.

Seeing that Zhen Yuhuan still had the energy to talk back to Xiangyun, everyone felt relieved and dispersed.

Jia Lian saw that Baochai and Daiyu also left with the others without showing any suspicion. He was just feeling relieved when Xiangyun and the others came up to him and asked, "Second Brother Lian, when are we going to start the fire and cook?"

Jia Lian looked up at the sun which had already passed its zenith, then looked at their slightly sad faces, and guessed that one of them must be hungry.

So he asked Ping'er to get some snacks for the hungry people to fill their stomachs first, and then asked, "Have you collected all the ingredients?"

"No. Everyone was worried about Sister Zhen before, so my third sister and I went to pick some mushrooms in the forest over there."

Jia Lian nodded and said, "Okay, now I will arrange the tasks."

"First of all, the sun is getting hotter and hotter. You are all so delicate, it would be terrible if you get sunburned. So we need to find a cooler place, build a stove, and place the chopping board and kitchen utensils."

Tanchun said immediately, "There's no need to look for another place for this. Let's go over there. There are a few old poplar trees over there that can provide shade, and the ground is flat, just right for us to spread out."

Jia Lian followed Tanchun's instructions and looked over. Sure enough, there was a row of old poplar trees beside the road in front of the carriage, creating a shade. There was also a row of small stools under the trees. It was obvious that Tanchun and the others had been waiting for them there.

"In that case, let's work together to move everything over there."

As he spoke, Jia Lian took the lead, leading Ping'er, Qingwen and others to move the things from the carriage down. Seeing this, the maids consciously rushed forward to help.

Apart from the master and his daughter, there were more than ten maids on this trip. There were no servants or maids to serve them. The main thing was to do it yourself.

When Baochai, Yingchun, Tanchun, Xiangyun, Xiuyan and Baoqin saw that Jia Lian was doing it himself, they immediately stretched out their delicate hands and tried to do the physical work.

Everyone was moving, leaving only Jia Baoyu and Daiyu standing out from the crowd.

Daiyu glanced at Jia Baoyu who was secretly looking at her again, frowned slightly, and actually walked over, symbolically picked up a clean chopping board, and went to the camp.

Jia Baoyu felt very sad when he saw the group of women scrambling to move things.

I feel that Jia Lian really doesn't know how to be gentle with women, as he actually lets these delicate daughters do such rough work!

But at the same time, he had to admit that it seemed particularly interesting when everyone worked together.

So after hesitating for a moment, he immediately went forward and took over the job of carrying the table from the maids.

This table looks very heavy. It would be terrible if it crushed the delicate flowers.

When most of the things had been moved, Ping'er was directing the maids to place or build the stove, and Jia Lian stood in front of the main table and said to everyone, "While we are setting things up, I will assign some other tasks.

They are gathering food, collecting firewood and fetching water. Is there anyone willing to volunteer?"

Shi Xiangyun is always the most positive: "Let me and my third sister go to collect food! We saw a lot of melons and vegetables in the fields at the foot of the mountain!"

Jia Lian glanced at her, shook his head and said, "You two, I'm afraid you can't even recognize a few fruits and vegetables. If I let you two go, I don't know what you will bring back.

If you really want to go, go with Xiuyan and bring two maids with you."

"Then... let's do it."

Although Xiangyun felt despised by Jia Lian, she did not refute and pulled Xiuyan to select the troops to set off.

"Why are you in such a hurry? Wait until I have made all the arrangements."

Jia Lian looked at Ping'er and said, "Give them some money." Ping'er, who was busy, immediately gave Xiangling an instruction, so Xiangling ran to the carriage and took out a bag of copper coins.

Jia Lian asked Xiangling to hand it over to Xiuyan, and then said: "Although I am the owner of this farm, all the agricultural products in this farm are grown by the hard work of the tenants. We can't take them for free. Therefore, every time you take something here, remember to put some money on the ground in a conspicuous place. After we leave, the tenants will naturally be able to get it."

Although Jia Lian could compensate the farmers in the manor afterwards, and even the farmers who had received favors from Jia Lian would probably be happy to have their things patronized by the nobles, Jia Lian still wanted Yingchun and others to develop the concept of "fair exchange."

They are all just boys and girls in their teens, and this is the time when their world views are being formed. Jia Lian doesn't want these girls to be spoiled by him and become unruly princesses who feel superior.

Seeing Xiu Yan nodded in agreement, Jia Lian said, "Don't go too far. No matter how much you have collected, you must come back within half an hour."

After talking about Xiangyun and Xiuyan, Jia Lian looked at Baochai and Daiyu again, and his face unconsciously became much gentler.

"You two, just take charge of fishing. It's also half an hour, so catch as much as you can."

Baochai and Daiyu looked at each other, neither had any objections, so they took their maids and tools and went there.

Seeing this, Tanchun subconsciously wanted to accuse Jia Lian of being partiality for assigning such an easy job to Chai and Dai.

However, thinking back to what Daiyu had said yesterday, she was afraid that people would misunderstand that she was really "jealous", so she had to give up.

"Second girl, and Baoqin, the two of you will be responsible for picking up some firewood nearby."

"Baoyu, Sanya, you two should bear with the hard work and be responsible for fetching some clean water from the creek. Fetch more."

Seeing that Jia Lian really gave her the most tiring work, Tanchun finally exploded.

"Second brother, you have arranged work for us, what about you? What do you do?"

Jia Lian glanced at his sister who dared to question him, and said naturally: "Me? Of course I am in charge of the overall situation here."

"I think you are just being lazy, second brother."

Tanchun said indignantly. Actually, most people had left now, so she took the opportunity to act coquettishly towards Jia Lian.

But Jia Baoyu couldn't see it, and thought that Tanchun was really angry, so he quickly said, "Don't worry about it, Third sister. It's just fetching water. You can take a rest later. I can fetch it by myself."

"Brother Bao is still the best. Come on, Brother Bao, let's not talk to this biased person anymore."

Tanchun acted angry and dragged Jia Baoyu to do the task.

Jia Lian shook his head when he saw this, and when most people had left, he called over Aqi and Aqin, who were acting as guards nearby, and asked them to follow and keep an eye on them to prevent any accidents from happening to these young men and women who were not able to take care of themselves.

In the carriage, Zhen Yuhuan was alone and bored. Seeing that everyone had left and only Jia Lian and a few maids were in the camp, she thought for a moment and endured the discomfort, got off the carriage and walked towards the camp.

Jia Lian was setting up the grill and saw this and asked, "Why don't you rest in the carriage? What are you doing here?"

"It's boring to stay in the car, so I want to get out and take a walk. What about you guys?"

"They have completed their respective tasks."

Jia Lian replied casually, and then said: "Since it's stuffy in the car, you should sit here and rest for a while, and don't walk around."

Zhen Yuhuan said "hmm" obediently, sat on a small stool nearby, and then watched Jia Lian quietly as he took action.

Ping'er glanced at her stealthily a few times, with a hint of doubt and speculation in her eyes.

……

At Rongguo Mansion, Sister Feng walked back to her own courtyard, fanning herself, and found that a maid from the outer courtyard came to greet her, so she asked the maid who stayed behind.

The maid said, "These are seasonal fruits that the masters outside gave to Grandpa and Grandma as a gift. There are so many of them, two large baskets full."

Feng Jieer was feeling the weather was hot and humid, so she immediately asked the maids to wash some for her to taste.

She changed into a set of inner clothes, lay on the couch in the outer room, had her maid fan her, petted the cat, and ate seasonal fruits. It should have been an extremely comfortable thing. However, Feng Jie thought that Jia Lian was taking the whole family of girls out to play, leaving her alone at home, and she felt very uncomfortable.

Seeing Sister Feng pick up a fruit, concentrate for a long time, and then put it back, Xiaohong asked, "Maybe these fruits don't suit Second Madam's taste. I'll ask the maids to wash other ones."

"No need."

Sister Feng sat up and ordered, "Take it down. Wash some of each fruit and put them in the water jar to cool down, and wait for your Second Master to come back and eat them."

"Wait a minute."

Sister Feng suddenly called the maids again and said, "I remember that your Second Master dug an ice cellar in the garden?"

Xiao Hong nodded and said, "Second Master dug an ice cellar in the garden, just behind the Empress's palace.

The first year, Second Master was not at home, so it was not used. Last December, Second Master asked my father to bring some people from the north to transport a lot of ice, which was stored inside. I think it can be used now.”

Xiaohong knew Fengjie's habits very well, so she told her story.

Sure enough, Sister Feng nodded and ordered, "Go and call your mother." (End of this chapter)